Business

Prison inmates taught job skills in new program

A group of 10 women inmates at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, near Fond du Lac, are learning basic manufacturing skills in a new program designed to help them find jobs when they're released and earn college credits for finishing the class.

The training also has been launched at state prisons in Oshkosh and Kettle Moraine, where inmates spend six weeks learning skills such as machine maintenance and blueprint reading.

The programs are from Lakeshore Technical College, the state Department of Corrections, and the state Department of Workforce Development, said Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board.

Corrections spent $100,000 to get a 25% ownership stake in one of the mobile laboratories used to provide the training, and it's considering buying another mobile lab it will own outright.

Taycheedah inmates are in their third week of training, which is held every day, about seven hours a day, for six weeks.

"During the day, they get a break for lunch and that's about it," said Rich Hoerth, a Lakeshore Technical College dean who oversees the program.

The training starts with the basics of quality control and safety, and then moves into other areas including machine maintenance and repair, machine operation, computer controls and blueprint reading.

The lessons were developed based on the needs of manufacturers, some of whom are clamoring for skilled labor.

Wisconsin will have fewer than half of the metal manufacturing professionals it needs by 2021, according to a report from Manpower Group. Demand for these skilled tradespeople will grow by nearly 50%, but the supply will decrease about 12% as the industry gets slapped by a wave of retirements.

Much of the inmate training focuses on math skills, including the ability to take precise measurements. There also are lessons in using hand tools and understanding mechanical fasteners, shafts, couplers, gears, pulleys, bearings, levers, cranks, cams and springs.

Inmates are allowed out of their cells several nights a week for math tutoring, Golembeski said.

There's a hands-on assessment at the end of the course that tests an inmate's ability to troubleshoot and repair a machine in a given amount of time. All of the Oshkosh inmates who completed the training passed the test.

The mobile laboratory could be used for training at high schools, and the assessment test could be used outside of the prison system.

It's too early to say whether the inmate program is a success, based on whether people find manufacturing jobs when they're released from prison or continue their training at a technical college.

But having some mechanical knowledge will be useful, Golembeski said.

"Those six college credits are going to be helpful, too. In some cases, these women will be the first in their immediate families to earn any college credits. We are hoping they will continue their education when they're released."

Taycheedah has had other job-skills programs, including one that trained inmates to be dental technicians in jobs that paid about $40,000 a year in Milwaukee County, according to Department of Workforce Development figures.

But someone with a felony drug conviction would have trouble getting a job in the health care field, Golembeski said.

"If you have a conviction for theft or bad checks, you're also not going to get a job in the financial field, or even in retail, where you would be handling money and credit cards," he said.

"Manufacturing is a place where your felony conviction, for the most part, isn't going to stand in the way of getting a job that's in high demand and has a high wage. If you have the skills and keep your act together, there are a lot of opportunities."

On April 15, Golembeski said, he and some women from area manufacturing companies will be at Taycheedah to meet with the inmates in the training program, including several of them from Milwaukee.

About Rick Barrett

Rick Barrett covers manufacturing, telecom and agriculture. He has received Best in Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and was co-recipient of a Barlett & Steele award for investigative business journalism.